Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Skorna äter asfalten / Shoes eat asphalt

I don't
think I've been wished with so much good luck and been greeted with so many
words of congratulations for something I undertook, until this past weekend, in
connection with the Stockholm Marathon.

So first of
all: Thanks everybody; you know who you are! I've probably thanked you in
person / online! But thanks again anyway. There are few occasions when I feel
that many of my friends are thinking about me at the same moment. This was such
a time, and I think it helped heaps as I took myself around all 42,195 meters
of asphalt. From all the well-wishes, “good luck kicks”, congrats-messages and encouragement I got, I
started to feel after a while that even you were involved in this crazy attempt
of mine! I really appreciate the lift! :-D

*

Now, where
to start?

If you're
not a runner, I hear it can be boring to talk to runners who have a tendency to
talk about their exercise too often to anyone willing to listen (Not strange to
talk about something you spend several hours a week doing). In the course of my
marathon training, I've learned that there are two sets of non-runners: those
who don't get the whole idea of races and immediately express their
disinterest; and those who are curious and impressed and want to hear a bit
more. To the latter, I think it pays to be a considerate storyteller. So yes, I'll forgive you even if you don't read everything ;-)

But
how did my marathon feel like? How did it go? Despite all the stories
I heard and read about pain and cramps and hitting the wall, I must say that in
contrast to this, my run felt – well, super! For me that means: I was injury-free,
I had energy to the finish (and even increased my times for every 10km. Amazing!),
and I clocked a good time, beating my initial expectations. That makes for a boring
first marathon-story, eh? Actually it feels like bragging (and according to my
friend Karin, shamelessly unfair!). I even had energy to talk all the way back to
her place while walking. Admittedly, my legs felt like logs directly after
the race, so it was a painful walk. I guess that was really the worst part!

*

I think
that most of this is really thanks to the marathon program I was following.
Anders Szalkai, a Swedish long-distance runner, produces these running programs
on the marathon.se site. Highly recommended! I actually just
opted for the free version of the exercise program, but I'm proof that even the
free version is pretty damn good!

At the
starting line, I had a good feeling that this was the day I was training for. I
have been training for 6 whole months and have over that time felt the ups and
downs of distance running – the swelling pride, but also the monotony. I've logged in
enough long-distance passes to become acquainted with (be friends with?) my
aches, pains, and tiredness. At worst, the marathon wasn't going to be anything
drastically new than the other long-distance passes. But in fact it felt
better, because this run was the culmination of all those ups and downs and
hard work, and it was the day I'd been waiting for since December. Only the
last 12.2 of the 42.2 kilometers was going to be unchartered terrain, and I
felt ready for it too. Any finishing time under 5 hours was good for me, but I
calculated that, in theory, I could finish at 4h 20m as my fastest time. The training program seemed to have given me a
solid idea of what was realistic, because I finished not too long after my
hypothetical fastest time, and clocked 04:28:59.

*

What
did I think about while running? is another question I get. In fact,
I don't think my mind has been so empty of thought as it was during this
marathon. It actually felt like my legs weren't really mine. There's a reason
why people call running a kind of meditation. Everything was really
here-and-now. My thoughts were very simple and uncomplicated, and mostly about
the things around me like: Oh, this is going pretty well; The Stockholm castle isn't
really that charming; Oooh, shower spray!; Uuugh, shower spray!; Boy, that guy
has lots of energy gels!; I wonder how it feels for this man to run 42.2
kilometers in a gorilla suit in this drizzle?; My legs are tingling; Check your
posture; My socks are wet; Hmm back ache; Yay, the next 5-kilometer mark!, Etc.. I didn't even have the opportunity to use my mantra of encouragement, sometimes used in my long-distance weekend passes (Trivia: it's the blog entry title!).

My
conscious thoughts during the marathon included trying to give and take
positive vibes by clapping or high-fiving at the lone cheerers (they took themselves
there in the rain when they didn't need to!), and remembering to look at and thank the
stressed out guys and girls distributing the water and sports drinks to the swarm
of runners. Sometimes I tried to get eye contact with people running beside me.
I got a wink back from a Finnish runner.

I don't know if it was a conscious effort, but I also never thought beyond 5
kilometers at a time (brains are probably used to thinking in increments). I knew that my chip clocked my time for every 5
kilometers of the race and that friends were watching my progress online. My
goal, throughout the race, was just to take myself to the next 5-kilometer mark
so my friends would know that I was still in my shoes. So yes, you were
with me along the way too, and I thought of you and tried to visualize you in
front of your computer screen!

By 38
kilometers, I had already passed by many racers who had to stop or slow down
for different reasons, and I still felt alright. Karin, whom I already saw
several times around the track, biked alongside me on the last 2 kilometers, cheering
me on and giving me a boost that I didn't even know I was capable of then. Thank
you Karin; that really felt wonderful! I should also
remember to thank Susanne, my running buddy, whose idea it was for me to take
on this challenge, and Jon and Judith for – haha! – sponsoring my shoes. Now I'm
a Marathon finisher, and to show for it I have a small chafe under my armpit,
one blue toenail, a hoarse voice today (probably a cold on its way), and of
course, a medal! Yahoo! :-)

*

Some of my friends
are already asking me when my next marathon will be, or if I would do this
again. I must admit I thought of it – after the second round in Västerbron, of all places
(the steepest climb)! But I think I'll bask in this feeling of satisfaction and happiness for a while yet, and
give that question consideration some other time. It's like you don't ask
mothers if they're planning a next child right after giving giving birth to their first
one. Besides, although the marathon itself went really well, it's the thought of once more going through months of training – including its high and lows, early mornings of forcing myself out of bed and sometimes asocial weekends devoted to running – which I really have to give serious second thought. So the short answer is: I don't know yet, but I could.

Lastly, there
are some things that I learned from this 6-month long journey that I want to write down and share (and then I'll keep quiet about running for now, promise!):What I learned about life from training for / running a marathon:

Go
for it! If you've always wanted to try something – if it seems possible
and you've been wondering how it would feel – try it! Or as I read from a
marathon website, “to do something you've never done before, you have to do
something you've never done before.” It's also important not to fear doing the
unknown, and to actually look forward to that you're going to do what you've
been curious of. I think one of the first woman pioneers of marathon said that marathons were like a metaphor for life because it's all about overcoming adversity. But at the same time, it's not anything impossible or beyond reach.

Be
prepared. Scout motto, I know! But it really does go a long way in life, doesn't it? In this
case, not to train enough or not to inform yourself about what you can expect is just
asking for injury. If you're planning to join a marathon, read a lot and prepare yourself in the best possible way so
you don't end up regretting that you forgot to think about what turns out to be
basic stuff like salt consumption or hydration. Have a plan, and try out everything
out beforehand, including your running gear and the food you'd be consuming
during the marathon. “Nothing new on marathon day,” as another saying goes. I
think I survived so well mostly because of this “be prepared” rule. But this
rule, of course, also includes knowing and respecting your limits, and knowing that there are just some things you can't prepare for.

Don't
undermine your own achievements. After running several long-distance
passes over 20 km, I and others around me started to get a strange perspective about what's long and
short. Colleagues and friends started to say to me in pride, “I jogged 7 kilometers last
Monday," and then quickly add: "But that's nothing compared to what you're doing!” I usually try to
remind them that seven kilometers is long by any standard,
and probably longer than what most of their friends and acquaintances run in
a week. I should remind myself this too: all achievements
are good ones. Give
back. One of the things I really appreciated from “Born to Run” was that it took the self-absorbed prestige out of running. Running doesn't have to be
about ego. In a race, if you think about all the people thinking about you and all
the cheerers cheering for other friends and loved ones, you get a feeling that
you're really not alone running those kilometers. Try to cheer on
the cheerers, and encourage others in their efforts. The really interesting thing is that every time I high-fived an
outstretched palm from a cheering stranger (and not all runners care to!), I really did
feel that my energy bar went up a notch. Now that's something to think about, probably in other aspects of life as well.

Not but not the least: one shouldn't run faster or overdo things beyond what's enjoyable. Find the joy, and be kind to yourself!

1 Comments:

Joy, congratulations on finishing a marathon!!! I think I congratulated you in facebook, but as I'm now starting to run up to 5K, I appreciate your marathon so much more! Ang hirap to start from scratch. My shins hurt so much the first couple of times I ran but now they're getting better.

I'm really training for a duathlon in March, just fun distance -- 3k run, 10k bike, 3k run -- and I hope I survive it! I'm following a training plan when my work sched allows. We also plan to run half a marathon in December, and I'm looking forward to that! Hahahaha, just sharing! It's so inspiring to read your outdoor activities (Reading your cycling adventures is one of the reasons we got a bike!) :)